North Wales

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This article is about North Wales in the UK. For the suburb of Philadelphia, US, see North Wales, Pennsylvania.

Approximate extent of North Wales

North Wales (known in some archaic texts as Northgalis) is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England.

It comprises the island of Anglesey, the Llŷn peninsula and the Snowdonia mountain range, together with the catchments of the Rivers Conwy, Clwyd and Dee.

Traditionally, most of North Wales was covered by the kingdom of Gwynedd.

The region is currently made up of the following administrative areas:

the county borough of Wrexham (Wrecsam)
the county of Flintshire (Sir y Fflint)
the county of Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych)
the county borough of Conwy
the county of Gwynedd
the county of the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)

The area is mostly rural with many mountains and valleys. This, in combination with its coast (on the Irish Sea), has ensured that tourism is the principal industry. Farming, which was once the principal economic force in the area, is now much reduced in importance. The average income per capita of the local population is the lowest in the United Kingdom and much of the region has EU Objective 1 status [1].

The majority of the settlements in North Wales are along the coast, including some popular resorts, such as Rhyl, Llandudno and Pwllheli. The A55 expressway links these towns with the north of England and the port of Holyhead for ferries to Ireland; few routes connect North Wales with South Wales. There are two cathedral cities — Bangor and St. Asaph, and a number of mediaeval castles (e.g.: Harlech, Caernarfon, Beaumaris, Conwy).

North Wales has a somewhat separate identity to the rest of Wales. Its dialect of the Welsh language differs to that of South Wales in some ways; for example llefrith is used in some areas instead of llaeth for "milk". Colloquially, a person from North Wales (especially one who speaks with this dialect or accent) is known as a North Walian, or a gog (from the Welsh gogledd, meaning "north").

For many purposes Wales can be divided into only three regions, North Wales, South Wales and West Wales. In this scenario the boundary between North Wales and West Wales is marked by the Ceredigion - Powys border. Powys itself is divided with the Traditional County of Brecknockshire being included in South Wales with Montgomeryshire included in North Wales.

North Wales was a European Parliament constituency until 1999, and is now an electoral region for the National Assembly for Wales.